# Edit a flow as code (/docs/agents/flow-code) The **Code** view shows the whole flow as a YAML file: every step, its block, its settings, its paths and conditions, and the guardrail rules it checks. It's handy for reviewing a flow at a glance, making many changes at once, copying a flow's steps into another one, or keeping a copy outside Mokanata. - **Who can use it:** Owners and admins can edit and apply code. Members and viewers can open the Code view to read, copy and download it, but the editor is read-only and there's no **Apply**. See [Roles and permissions](/docs/settings/roles). - **Before you start:** Open the flow in the builder. See [Flow builder basics](/docs/agents/flow-builder). ## Open the Code view [#open-the-code-view] Click **Code** (the `` icon) in the builder's top bar. The flow appears as a file named after it, such as `pricing-follow-up.flow.yaml`, with line numbers. Blocks is hidden while you're in Code, and the side panel shows **Reference** and the [Assistant](/docs/agents/flow-assistant). ![The Code view of Pricing follow-up: the file pricing-follow-up.flow.yaml marked Matches the flow, with Copy, Download and Apply, and YAML listing the schema, name, the trigger with its channels and the steps knowledge, draft and guardrails; the Problems bar says No problems](/screenshots/flow-code/01-code-view.webp) The badge next to the file name says where the code stands: | Badge | What it means | | --- | --- | | **Matches the flow** | The code is the flow as it is. | | **Not applied** | You've edited the code, and the flow doesn't have those edits yet. | | **1 problem**, **2 problems** … | The code has problems that stop it from applying. | While code edits are waiting, the **Code** button in the view switch shows a dot ("Code · edits not applied yet"), even from the Canvas or List view. ## How the file is laid out [#how-the-file-is-laid-out] ```yaml schema: mokanata.flow/v1 name: Pricing follow-up trigger: id: trigger use: trigger.message title: Inbound message received steps: - id: draft use: agent.draft title: Closer Agent drafts reply - id: big_deal use: logic.branch title: If the deal is over 5000 paths: - name: Big deal when: all: - deal.value greater-than 5000 steps: - id: notify_owner use: message.notify title: Tell the deal owner with: notifyWho: owner message: "{{contact.name}} has a big deal" - name: Otherwise steps: [] ``` | Key | What it holds | | --- | --- | | `id` | The step's reference name. Later steps read its outputs as `{{steps..…}}`. | | `use` | The block, such as `ai.classify`, `logic.wait` or `app.google-sheets`. The **Reference** tab lists every one. | | `title` | The step's name on the canvas. | | `with` | The step's settings. | | `paths` | An If / else or Switch's paths, each with a `name`, its `when` conditions and its own `steps`. The last path, with no `when`, is the fallback. | | `when` | `all:` or `any:`, then one check per line: the variable, the operator, then the value, such as `contact.stage not-equals closed-won`. | | `rules` | On a guardrail step, the rules it checks; at the end of the file, each rule's title and whether it's `on`. | | `knowledge` | Whether citations are required and which knowledge sources are on. | Operators are `equals`, `not-equals`, `contains`, `not-contains`, `starts-with`, `one-of`, `greater-than`, `less-than`, `is-empty`, `is-not-empty`, `is-true` and `is-false`. You can also write `==`, `!=`, `>` and `<`. ## Edit and apply [#edit-and-apply] ### Edit the YAML [#edit-the-yaml] Click in the editor and type. Tab indents. To leave the editor with the keyboard, press Esc, then Tab. As soon as the code differs from the flow, the badge says **Not applied** and **Discard edits** appears. ![The Code view after an edit: pricing-follow-up.flow.yaml marked Not applied, with Copy, Download, Discard edits and Apply, and line 26 changed to title: Draft the pricing reply](/screenshots/flow-code/03-not-applied.webp) ### Apply it [#apply-it] Click **Apply** or press ⌘ S or ⌘ Enter (Ctrl on Windows and Linux). Switching to the Canvas or List view applies it too. A toast says what changed, such as "Edited 1 step. Publish to make it live." Its **Undo** puts the flow back as it was. ![The toast Applied to your draft: Edited 1 step. Publish to make it live, with Undo](/screenshots/flow-code/05-applied.webp) Applying changes your draft, not the live flow. [Publish](/docs/agents/flow-test-run#publish-the-flow) to make it live. If nothing changed, the toast says "Nothing to change". To throw your edits away instead, click **Discard edits**. The code goes back to the flow as it is, and the toast's **Undo** brings your edits back. On a new flow, `name` sets the flow's name. On a flow that's already been published, changing `name` isn't applied, and the Problems list shows a warning on that line. ## Fix problems [#fix-problems] The **Problems** bar under the editor counts what's wrong: how many problems stop the code from applying, how many must be fixed before publishing, and how many warnings there are. Each line says where (**Line 25**) and what, such as "agent.drafts isn't a block. See Reference for every use value." Click a problem to jump to its line. **Hide** and **Show** fold the list. ![A problem in the code: the badge says 1 problem, line 25 use: agent.drafts is highlighted, and the Problems bar says 1 stops applying: Line 25, agent.drafts isn't a block. See Reference for every use value](/screenshots/flow-code/04-problem.webp) | Kind | What happens | | --- | --- | | Stops applying | The YAML can't become a flow (a typo in a `use`, a setting that doesn't exist, a condition that doesn't parse). **Apply** is off until you fix it. | | To fix before publishing | The code applies, but the flow can't publish yet, for example a send without a guardrail. The same checks as [publishing](/docs/agents/flow-test-run#fix-what-stops-publishing). | | Warning | Worth a look, but nothing is stopped. | With no problems, the bar says "No problems. mokanata.flow/v1". If you switch views while the code has problems, your edits aren't applied: a toast says so, and they wait in Code until you fix or discard them. If the flow changes while your code edits are waiting (for example, you apply a suggestion from the assistant), a banner says **The flow changed after you started editing**: applying replaces the flow with your code, and **Discard edits** shows the flow as it is now. You can't publish while code edits are waiting: **Publish** says "Apply or discard your code edits first" and takes you to the Code view. ## Look up blocks and settings [#look-up-blocks-and-settings] In the Code view, the side panel's **Reference** tab explains the file: **A step** (an example with a branch), **Conditions** (how checks are written and every operator) and **Blocks** (every `use` value with a one-line description). ![The Reference tab: A step, with an example If / else in YAML, Conditions with the operator list, and the start of the Blocks list with trigger.message, trigger.instagram and trigger.deal-stage](/screenshots/flow-code/02-reference.webp) ## Copy or download the flow [#copy-or-download-the-flow] Click **Copy** to copy the whole file ("Copied"), or the download icon to save it as a `.flow.yaml` file, for a review or a backup outside Mokanata. ## Next steps [#next-steps]